(213g) The Prevalence of Imposter Phenomenon in Undergraduate and Graduate Chemical Engineers

Imposter phenomenon (IP) was first characterized in high achieving women during the late 1970s but has since been found across a wide variety of populations and identities. For instance, higher levels of IP have been documented in high achievers, women and underrepresented populations. Recently, a Science letter was published that implicated IP as a potential threat to diversity in STEM. In the engineering context, Richard Felder first drew attention to IP in engineering students through an article published in Chemical Engineering Education in 1988. Since then, there have been many opinion pieces written about the presence of IP in the engineering population. That being said, there has been little research to quantify the prevalence of IP specifically within this student population. In this study, results will be presented on the prevalence of IP in undergraduate and graduate chemical engineering students at the University of Kentucky. The study will use the Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale to measure IP levels in students across varying age of study. Results will be used to further motivate the study of IP specifically within the engineering student population at both the undergraduate and graduate school levels.